| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | I certainly have a lot of memories of my childhood, but it’s difficult to pick out one that’s the “most” memorable. Most of my early childhood fond memories were when we would get a new gaming system. I remember in 1996 when we first got the N64 with Super Mario 64 for Christmas and my dad had already played/beaten the first level on the cartridge, which was fun to see as he wasn’t much of a gamer. Some other fond early memories were browsing the early web in the late 90s. It’s crazy to think how much it’s changed over the years. Also trying to become a Tetris master in college and playing Facebook Tetris for hours every day. Anyway, I know these aren’t great “stories” but maybe sheds some light into my earlier years. I don’t want to give the wrong impression though. I was a big gamer through my childhood/teenage years, but once I graduated college, I pretty much stopped gaming cold turkey. I was a late bloomer in a sense. Once I became responsible for sustaining my own life/reality, I felt a burning motivation to achieve success and provide a good life for myself. Nowadays my focus is much more so on business ideas/personal programming projects I’m interested in. Hobbies these days are much more related to following current events/investing. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | My dad and I are on the same “wavelength” and carry a similar mentality/way of thinking. He’s one of the few people I can have lengthy discussions with on a myriad of meandering topics. We’ll always have long conversations about economics, finance, philosophical ideas, politics and really anything. He’s somebody that really likes to discuss and propose ideas on all these subjects, so we can spend many hours debating each other about different topics. We’re both also super objective/rational where we can discuss typically emotionally charged topics and weigh the merits of arguments from many different sides, rather than being driven by personal bias. My dad’s dad (Grandpa) and his dad (Great Grandpa) also carry a very similar mentality, so maybe it’s a dominant gene of sorts. We’re also different in many ways. I look a lot more like my mom and carry some of her traits as well. I would describe myself as a more ambitious and intense version of my dad. I tend to be much more assertive and he’s more passive. In most other respects we’re super similar though. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | I admire independent thinking, strong will, perseverance, hard work, and critical thought. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | To be honest, it’s difficult to parse out a single event. I’m not much of a storyteller, so I haven’t revisited a lot of the funniest moments of my past. I’d need to think a bit more on this! Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not a super serious person. I’m very laid back/low maintenance. Despite being quite ambitious and hardworking, I love to eat fast food and veg out to reality TV. I don’t take myself seriously at all. Being a kid who grew up on the internet in the late 90s, 2000s, a lot of the humor I enjoy is more of the internet/meme/dark variety. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | I’d like to travel all over. I’m particularly interested in visiting Asia: Japan, Vietnam, Korea and most of the others. Europe is appealing to me as well, but for travel, I prefer to visit places that are as different as possible to the US. It makes things more interesting, and there’s a greater opportunity to be surprised/learn of new cultural elements or places I wasn’t aware of. Though I’m not one for the more “dangerous” form of travel to countries/places with looser security/higher crime. I tend to be risk averse! |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I would want to have a similar relationship to them that I have with my dad. It would be nice if they shared similar interests/way of thinking, and we could carry on long conversations (when they’re older!). But of course, I would love them for their individuality as well, either way! Also, I would like for them to adopt my determination, resolve, and ambition. It would be awesome to help them achieve their goals in life and see what they can accomplish. |
